April 24 is World Meningitis Day, and the condition is one of many that may compete against COVID-19 for healthcare resources. The disease is deadly and debilitating, it strikes quickly, and it affects people of all ages.

Lab professionals may rarely be seen by patients, but their heroic contributions to patient health and safety do not go unnoticed. Every day, clinical laboratory professionals perform thousands of tests that are crucial to ensuring accurate diagnoses and treatments that can help save patients’ lives.

Whole genome sequencing (WGS), the process of determining the complete nucleotide or DNA/RNA sequence of a genome at one time, has made headlines recently for its potential to transform infectious disease management, particularly related to SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Amid the spread of COVID-19, testing for SARS-COV-2, the virus that causes it, is at the forefront of the battle. Patients rely on test results to confirm if they’ve acquired the coronavirus, and public health entities around globe rely on the data to learn how and where the virus is spreading.